Second-quarter safeguard quotas for hollow sections have largely been used up in both the EU and the UK, Kallanish learns from official data.
EU tariff-free safeguard quotas for hollow sections imports have been filled for most provenances, including Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. The “other countries” quota has been exhausted, and currently quotas remain available only from Switzerland and North Macedonia.
The overall tariff-free hollow sections allocation is of slightly above 200,000 tonnes per quarter.
Similar pressure on hollow sections users is visible in the UK where Turkish-origin as well as “other countries” quotas have been fully used. UK importers can now only clear volumes of hollow sections arriving from within the EU.
The safeguard quota system is set to remain in place until at least the end of June. An extension is yet to be announced by either the EU or UK authorities.
Emanuele Norsa Italy
